Stem Cell Therapy to Help With Knee Injuries
If you’re struggling with knee pain, you might be tempted to solve your problem with expensive and invasive treatments like total knee replacement. After all, knee pain impacts your ability to walk, and it may even keep you awake at night in pain. However, there is another treatment for pain in your knees and other joints; the stem cell therapy treatments offered at Revive MD have been scientifically demonstrated to reduce knee and joint pain by breathing new life into your aching joints. To learn if this potent treatment is right for you, you’ll need to learn more about stem cell therapy, its incredible benefits, and its potential risks.
What is Stem Cell Therapy?
Stem cells are special cells that can turn into a variety of different types of tissues with the right guidance. Fetal tissue, which is largely undifferentiated, is packed with stem cells, and these cells can be extracted and applied in a variety of different medical settings. When used correctly, stem cells can become practically any type of cell, which means that they can replace types of cells that usually don’t regenerate effectively like the cells in your joints and tendons.
In addition to fetal tissue, perinatal tissue is also a great source of stem cells. Also, normal adult cells can be altered to become stem cells. These types of cells are called induced pluripotent stem cells, and they can be applied in the same ways as fetal stem cells. The body of medicine surrounding the use of stem cells is called regenerative medicine, and the regenerative specialists at Revive MD have the technical know-how necessary to apply these potent and valuable cells where they’re needed most to return health and vitality to your knees and other joints.
How Can Stem Cell Therapy Help Your Knees?
The main cause of knee and joint pain is insufficient cushioning in the joints. Over time, the cartilage in your joints wears down, and your body has a tough time replacing this complex cellular substance. However, when pure, undifferentiated stem cells are injected into your joint areas, they can turn into these highly sought-after cartilage cells when the correct technique is used.
In effect, stem cells regenerate your knee or other joint tissue, which eliminates the need to get surgery to fix your knees or other joints. In the past, it was believed that the only way to permanently fix knee and joint pain was to replace the joints with prostheses, but recent groundbreaking stem cell therapy research has given new hope to people who suffer from joint pain and related conditions.
What’s the Supporting Research?
A wide body of research has been done to determine the effects of stem cells on the human body. For instance, a Mayo Clinic study found that bone marrow stem cell treatment for arthritic pain is entirely safe and that it doesn’t cause any notable side effects. Another study determined that, while natural deterioration of the knee continues after stem cell therapy, knees that have received stem cell treatment are in better shape after five years than those that haven’t received treatment.
While the exact mechanisms behind the effects of stem cells in the knees are still largely unknown, researchers have found that the main reason why stem cell therapy is effective in combating knee pain is that these cells transform into the cartilage cells that your knees need to stay healthy. This transformation combats the inflammation that is caused when your knees and other joints aren’t properly cushioned, and stem cell therapy also appears to release cells called cytokines that slow the degeneration of cartilage and reduce the pain level experienced by patients.
Does Stem Cell Knee Therapy Have Any Side Effects?
One of the best things about stem cell treatment is that it doesn’t appear to have any serious side effects. Stem cells naturally occur in the human body, which means that your body will generally accept their presence without any complaints. Side effects that do occur are minimal, and they generally consist of mild pain and swelling at the site of the injection. In some cases, patients may also experience some joint stiffness as the stem cells start doing their work or repairing your knees and regenerating the cushioning you need to take your steps in comfort.
